The Beeb have pulled off, again, another fanastic summer fest that has acts to please all, whether you’re an indie kid, an R’n’B devotee, a pop fan, or just an all-round appreciator of good music. With six stages and more than 100,000 people expected to roll up, this isn’t just the BBC’s biggest summer show, but one of the biggest London events of the 2012.
Jay-Z, who’s curating his own US music fest Made In America later this year, ventures to these shows once more, having recently rocked the O2 with Kanye on their Watch The Throne tour, to headline on the Saturday, with support from Kasabian, Ed Sheeran and Example. Jack White tops the bill in the In New Music We Trust stage, along with The Vaccines and The Maccabbees, with Sean Paul, Swedish House Mafia, Calvin Harris and deadmau5 across the 1Extra Stage and Dance Arena, too.
Chase and Status bring their arena-slaying drum ‘n’ bass to the Sunday night, along with Magnetic Man, Sub Focus and Lana Del Ray, with Nas, David Guetta, Flux Pavillion, and even BBC alumni Annie Mac (Sat) and Zane Lowe (Sun) getting in on the act and spinning some discs as well.
The good news – tickets are free! The bad news – they’ve almost all been allocated through an online registration process, which closed ages ago. Listen to Radio 1 this week and you might be able to get your mits on some, though.
June 23-24 | Doors at 10.30am | Free
Hackney Marshes, E9 5PF
Tube | Clapton | bbc.co.uk
